Marketplace for Thursday, October 17, 2013

There’s a better than average chance that the government could shut down again in a few months if Congress can’t come to an agreement, and that will mean that contractors will lose money -- again. How are they factoring in uncertainty into their operations? Meanwhile, we lost two weeks of government data -- data that helps economists study things and data that helps farmers plant stuff. Finally, Facebook is easing up on teens, giving them the ability to have their posts seen by anyone, not just friends. This catches up to rivals Twitter and Instagram, while opening teens to more advertising, at a time when Facebook appears to be losing popularity among teens.

There’s a better than average chance that the government could shut down again in a few months if Congress can’t come to an agreement. That uncertainty is a problem for everyone from contractors to the entire US economy.